Absolutely Not
by fallenjedipadawan
Summary: They offered him a choice and he accepted. What if he had refused? On HIATUS until further notice.
1. The Refusal

**a/n: So I was rereading what I had written and most of it made me cringe at the horrible writing. In response to this problem I'm going back through and fixing the chapters. Soon I shall have a new chapter up, but for now this is what you get. As Always please review.**

"No! I absolutely refuse to work for you. I don't care if Ian was training me. I'm not going to be a bloody spy, and you're insane to think I'm going to change my mind. I'd much rather stay like I am, a normal school boy, the keyword there is normal. GCSEs are next year, I'm the captain of the football team, I like it that way, not being a stupid spy or anything else some governmental official believes is best for me." Snapped Alex Rider glaring at the pair in front of him, crossing his arms across his chest.

"What about Miss Starbright-" Alan Blunt began.

"You can't do anything, that's blackmail, which happens to be illegal. So you can keep that idea of yours to yourself or find some other teen who is willing to do it. "Alex retorted, his school bag lay on the ground next to the uncomfortable chair he sat on, with a swift motion he stood and pulled it up, with a final scathing glare he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room making sure to slam the door behind him. Mr. Blunt picked up a stack of pamphlets full of information on different orphanages and boarding schools. He handed them to Mrs. Jones with a meaningful look, who then took them to her office to figure out which seemed most appropriate for their current situation.


	2. The Meeting

**a/n: Please be a dear and review.**

**Disclaimer: Alex Rider doesn't belong to me.**

**The Meeting**

Exactly 75 hours later Alex dropped a faded, brown suitcase into the full trunk of a car and kicked the for sell sign at the bottom of the driveway, "I feel sorry for that poor old sign," Jack said, as she joined him on the sidewalk, holding a large blue purse in one hand and a set of car keys in the other "It didn't ask to be put at this house and every time you go past you abuse it in some way, be it physically or mentally. We'll have to send it to rehab after all you've put it through."

Alex threw a small rock at the sign at then smiled sheepishly at her, eyeing another pebble next to his foot. "Sorry. I just don't see how they could actually do this."

"They're your legal guardians, that's how. Really creepy guardians, but they are in charge of this property and you now." She sighed and looked at the empty house that she had lived in since she had first become housekeeper. "Do you have everything?" She added a touch a motherly concern in her voice and she reached out to wipe an imaginary smear of grime of his cheek.

Alex answered by grimacing and gesturing at the suitcase near his feet. It was smaller then the ones that now resided in the back of Jack's car, but bulged with the items he had was fondest of, the only parts of his current life that he would take with him.

"Alright, I guess I have to leave soon, I definitely can't miss my fight. Here this is for you. Don't open it until I'm gone." Jack said a shoved a small package into Alex's hands before hugging him. "I hate these bloody people for thinking that because your uncle was a spy you'd want to be one as well. Then you say no and they decide to send you away."

"Jack, it's alright." Alex said a little awkwardly, trying to comfort the woman who was close to tears by patting her back.

"No, it's not all right." She wiped a tear from under a bright blue eye. "They're putting you in an orphanage and those places are dreadful. They'll only give you gruel and make you clean chimneys and-"

"You've been reading way too much Oliver twist," Alex stated grinning at how her imagination had gotten away from her. "This is the twenty first century. It's illegal for them to do that kind of thing. Now stop worrying about me, I'll be fine."

After a moment of hesitation Jack replied. "Alright. Promise me you'll write, and try to stay out of trouble. I know how you like to go looking for it."

"I don't go looking for it, it comes looking for me." Came the indignant response.

"If you they do anything awful to you write the people at MI6 even if you don't want to. Also please listen to the people in charge."

"Yes Ma'am. I'll be a good boy; I know it's hard for you to imagine that. Now go I don't want to be responsible for missing your flight, I already feel bad enough that it's because of me that you have to go back to America. Or do you want me to go get that lovesick neighbor of ours to chase you to the airport." Alex said jokingly scowling at Jack who in spite of herself chuckled at his expression. "What?" He asked look slightly surprised at her change of mood. "Have you gone completely loopy? A minute ago you were practically sobbing and now you're giggling enough to fit in with some of the girls in my year at school."

"Your expression looks just like Ian's did when he was telling you off for getting in trouble at school."

"Well I am his nephew and I did grow up with him. What do you expect? My expression to look like your mum's. Bye Jack. I'm sorry for me being the reason that you have to leave." He looked shame faced at the ground. "I've been thinking…" His voice was quiet as he glanced back up at her. "I could go back and tell them I've changed my mind. That way you won't have to leave and I won't cause so many problems for you."

She put a gentle hand under his chin and forced him to look at her. "Don't do that. I'm not worth giving up your life for. I want you to only tell them that if it is what you really want; you don't have to anything you don't want to. Good bye, Alex. I'll miss you." She kissed his cheek, ruffled his hair, and whispered one last, "Love you." Before getting in her car, she seemed taken aback when he ran to the car and gave her a final hug, knowing he wasn't one to physically demonstrate his affection. After he stepped back from the car she slowly backed down the driveway.

Alex watched until the car faded into the distance, the final part of everything he had known of his childhood being taken away. A strange sense of loss came over him as he realized that now he really was all alone in the world. Until about two weeks ago he thought he could handle anything the world threw at him and he could handle it by himself without any help. Now he felt very small and lost in a world that was trying to crush him.

He sat down on his suitcase to wait for someone from the orphanage to come pick him up. They had said that they would be there by three thirty so that he would be in someone's care until the representative showed up. He glanced at his watch and saw that whoever was coming was over forty-five minutes late.

When a large drop of rain exploded on his nose he mumbled that it was "Just his luck," then pulled his hood up. He couldn't even go into the house to keep dry because as soon as the hose had been put on the market they had taken his key. He knew the money from the house would eventually get to him along with whatever his uncle left him and the income from selling the contents of the house, but that wasn't until years in the future.

After another half hour passed and the rain changed from a drizzle to a downpour he grabbed his suitcase and dashed up the short driveway to attempt to stay a little dry by huddling on the doorstep.

As dusk started to fall he decided to go to one of the neighbors and beg them to let him borrow their phone and call the "Royal and General bank." As he stood up and stretched to get the cricks out of his back from sitting in one position for so long a small, slightly battered, black car pulled up to the house. An undersized man who reminded Alex of a rat got out and after glancing nervously both ways scurried towards the door.

"You must be Alex Rider," He said extending a hand that was oddly muscular compared to the rest of his appearance. "I'm from Sir Thomas's Orphans home, my name is Mr. Dick." When he said his name Alex snorted into his sleeve and the man glared at the boy in front of him. "You think my name is funny don't you? Don't you?" Alex shook his head but failed miserably to keep the smile of his face. "Why don't I believe you? Also when I ask a question I want you to answer it. No just shaking your head like you're a moron who can't string to words together. And at Sir Thomas's we don't tolerate laughing at other people's names. People don't normally just go around laughing at random things. If my name was Bob it wouldn't be 'Bob, that's a bloody hilarious name. Ha ha ha.' If you do people will think you soft in the head. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal clear." Alex said stunned by the venom in the man's voice.

The man glanced at the boy and pulled a paper out of his pocket. "It says here that you were scheduled to call at Seven p.m. last night, you didn't bother to do so until almost seven thirty. We expect punctuality at Sir Thomas's."

"You call being two hours late punctuality?"

"Shut up. No smart ass comments. Now get in the car we've got a long drive ahead of us." He said and stalked back to the car, followed by Alex who had one hand clutched around the package from Jack which he had forgotten to open and with the other he lugged his suitcase to the back of the car. Stopping to take one last, almost sorrowful look at his home before getting in the car to face an uncertain future.


	3. Chapter 2

**a/n sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter up. My computer was dead, then I went to a camp for awhile, then I got back and left again to go out of town, then I was home for like a week or two and I was really busy doing make up work and the like then I left again. I'm actually on my sister's computer right now because she's at a self defense class that she has to take for her job. Will you guys ever forgive me for taking two months (yikes!!) to post. Please, please, with chocolate sauce on top review.**

**Disclaimer: guess who doesn't own Alex Rider. ME!!: **

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Chapter Two

Alex and Mr. Dick sat in stony silence for exactly twenty three minutes before Alex decided if he didn't have to talk he might as well open the package from Jack. When the paper crinkled as he shifted it into a position that would make it easier to open, Mr. Dick glared at him in the rearview mirror and then snapped, "You better not make a mess in here or else I'll have you scrubbing every inch of this car."

"I won't," Alex replied defensively. "It sure would be a pity if anything happened to this lovely car." He added surveying the cracked plastic seats, the dents and cracks in the windshield, the stained floor, and the numerous spots of rust on the hood. Mr. Dick either failed to notice or choose to ignore the sarcasm in the teen's voice and turned his attention back to the road. Alex shrugged and continued opening the item he held.

The first thing that fell out was a large envelope with his name on it. He decided to read the note after seeing what else was there. He carefully took out a simple silver picture frame and smiled, admittedly a little sadly, at the picture. The picture had been taken the Christmas before when Ian had one of the only friends Alex ever remembered his uncle having over came to visit.

The photograph showed Alex, Ian, and Jack in front of a pristine Christmas tree and all three, even the ever serious Ian, appeared to been caught up in the magic of the holidays. All three sets of eyes were sparkling, cheeks rosy from laughter, and smiles genuine. Ian stood with an arm over Alex's shoulder and Jack stood on the other side of the youth and had linked her arm through his.

Anyone who looked at it would see a normal family enjoying the festivities. No one would have guessed that by the end of March one person in the picture would be dead, another going to America, and the youngest going to an orphanage, Nor would they have guessed that very little was normal for this family; that the uncle who everyone thought was a business man actually was a spy for MI6, that all the languages they spoke and adventure holidays they went on were actually training the teen to be a spy. The viewer would have no way of knowing that the teen's parents had died when the internationally know terrorist group, Scorpia, had put a bomb on their plane. No one would have ever guessed after looking at the picture that very soon afterward that one of the threesome at age fourteen would have a military intelligence trying to recruit him.

Alex sighed and picked up the envelop tearing it along the top so he could remove the contents. The first thing he took out was a piece of paper folded in quarters, he opened it and read,

_Dear Alex,_

_Ian gave me a letter on your thirteenth birthday and said it was in case anything happened to him. Being crazy ole me and laughed and asked what would happen to a banker. You know what he did? He gave me one of those glares, you know the one where he would get home from a trip and nothing would be ready for him, you would act like a complete idiot, and then as soon as he got settled in he had to leave again. Those glares always made me feel like rolling over and dieing, I'm meandering aren't I? Anyways he gave me the letter and told me to make sure you got it and nothing happened to it. Here the letter is and nothing happened to it. I Miss you already._

_Love Always,_

_Jack_

He then put this note on top of the picture frame and took out a smaller envelop. He opened it and saw Ian's neat, rigid handwriting.

_Alex,_

_If you are reading this I've probably left this world behind, most likely doing something for my work. The bank, which you almost certainly now know is not a bank, has hopefully told you that I do not work for a bank instead I was a spy, doing my best to serve my country. I hope that when you are reading this you are old enough to have moved out and I've told you what I do. If not you should know that in my will I left you to the care of MI6, they'll know what to do with you._

_I realize that you probably hate me for training you to be a spy like your old uncle Ian. It's just that I didn't know what to do with you. One of the only things I was not ready for was a parental role and suddenly I had a child to look after. I couldn't think of anything else to do with you, I couldn't take you on missions and the adventure things were the only way we seemed to connect. I guess it was a little selfish of me to try to force my nephew into the same line of work. _

_When you were you I thought it was the only thing you would be able to, it runs in your blood after all, but as I watched you grow and mature I realized you would be successful at whatever you tried. You're smart, hard working, and like to learn new things; these will all help in whatever career you choose. I hope you know I've always been and will always be proud of you, no matter how angry at you I seemed. _

_Ian_

Alex finished the letter and realized that was probably the most Ian had ever told him what he thought about there relationship and what he felt about Alex's achievements. Before it had always been that if he done well on something he would have earned a glowing smile and a "Good job, Alex." Or if he messed up at school, home, or whatever new skill he was learning he would receive a scowl, a heavy sigh, a chance to explain what had happened, and a lecture on what the consequences could be if it happened again. If he ever said that other kids his age couldn't do as well he was told that he wasn't one of the other kids and was expected to be one of the best at everything he worked at, which he normally was.

"You hungry?" asked Mr. Dick breaking Alex's thoughtful revere "'Cause if you are there are a couple of sandwiches up here. It's about a hour and a half 'till we get to your new home." Then he threw a saran wrapped sandwich in the backseat and started yelling at someone who had gone speeding past music blaring.

Alex unwrapped it and took a bite of the dry peanut butter sandwich and grimaced at how it stuck to the roof of his mouth. Mr. Dick on the other hand seemed to be greatly enjoying it. "The foods not always this good at the home, sometimes it's downright awful." He proclaimed savoring a bite of dry bread and sticky peanut butter. Which made Alex think if Jack was a leat a little right in her worries about the orphanage.

"Yea, this just sooo amazing, I feel like I'm at a five star hotel. Amazing food, chauffer service, and a beautiful limo to ride in."

"Are you ever not a dumb ass when you're talking?" Mr. Dick questioned turning around to look at the teen and not even noticing the car going dangerously close to the median.

"I don't know," Alex shrugged and then continued innocently, "Why would you think that?" Mr. Dick growled and slammed his fist down on the corn horn and let "the bird" fly at the semi truck driver who was right on their tail. The pair lapsed back into silence until they turned onto a rutted out dirt road.

"We're almost there, and when we get there I want you to act like a good kid. Not some smart mouth, cocky, to big for their britches, teen. I know you think you're the little prince and you're mommy and you're daddy were put on this Earth to work for you, but they're not here now are there?"

"If I'm the prince does that make you king?" Alex said and then after receiving a glare he added. "My parents died when I was baby so they never had time to spoil me. I lived with my uncle who believed that if you want something you should work for it so I didn't get much spoiling from him either."

"Do I look like I give a darn about your family history." After a moment of bouncing up and down in the car as it hit each pot hole, Mr. Dick pointed to a building in various states of disrepair and announced. "That's where you'll be living until you're an adult, you get adopted, or you get in a fight and get yourself killed. Whichever happens first."

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**a/n: did you like it, please tell me so. If not please tell me so, if you couldn't care less tell me so just reviewI decided that since it's been so long since I last updated I would make this chapter long. Do you think Ian would give Alex a lecture about being better than everyone else? Please, please review it's not that hard to do. **

**Until next time I must bid you farewell.**

**-Alex**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/n: Hope you like it so far, I'm having fun writing it. Please review when you're finished, it's not going to kill you to try doing that for poor, little me. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and to my amazing new Beta reader. Ok random story time. So some of the kids in my grade are in this whole Alex is either a druggie or an alcoholic stage, and one kid got stoned and passed out. Later I was talking to my friend and this kid runs up and is like, "Alex, were you his supplier?" And me being me had to say "Yeah, that was me." And the kid was like "I knew…" and then he fell down a flight of stairs. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider obviously, because if I did not all of my stories would be just lying around my room, they would be out getting published.**

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Chapter Three

When the car stopped outside the decrepit, stone building an extremely large man waddled out of the door huffing like it was the most exercise he had in years. After making his way to the car he stopped to pant and then looked at Mr. Dick disapprovingly "I thought you said you'd be back earlier."

"I had some car problems and I had to get 'em fixed," Replied Mr. Dick shifting his weight, beady eyes glancing at the door and then back at the car.

"Imagine having car problems with that," Alex said, wrinkling his nose at the smell of overheating brakes. "It was such a nice car way, way back in the day."

"Is this the boy?" questioned the obese man scrutinizing Alex. "Why does the government have to dump him on us? We've got plenty of other snotty nosed kids to take care of."

Suddenly a small boy with tangled black hair came bursting out the door "Mr. Hirvan! Mr. Hirvan, the cook told me to tell you the stove is on fire again." He then broke down in chuckles.

"Again? That's the second time this bloody month. Tell her to find the fire extinguisher; those Kartly boys might have it. Also tell her if they do they don't get breakfast tomorrow morning" Mr. Hirvan said glaring at a second story window. The boy vanished back inside and a women's voice could be heard screeching about "killing whoever had the fire extinguisher." Mr. Hirvan then turned back to face the adolescent in front of him.

"I'm Mr. Hirvan. I'm own this place, but Larry Dick here, runs most of it. He can take you to your room and explain the rules. Also you should know that you should behave well, Larry can be awful about punishments. I'd better make sure every thing is all right with Susan." He than vanished down a dark hallway to a room where smoke was rolling out under from under the doorway.

"This way," Mr. Dick walked the doorway and started up a flight of steps that creaked every time he moved. Alex sighed, picked up his suitcase, and followed him slowly up the stairs. "Here we are." Mr. Dick opened a banged up door with a rusted door knob. Six boys sat up in their beds, instantly stopping their whispering wondering why the dreaded Mr. Dick had come to their room.

"What is it, sir?" asked a boy, bright red hair falling in his eyes and green eyes full of confused curiosity.

"Whatever it was, it wasn't us. Blame someone else" said two identical boys at the same time wearing indistinguishable, unbelievably innocent expressions.

"This is the new boy, Alex Rider" he said glaring at the other occupants of the room, to quiet them down. "These boys are all fourteen or fifteen and you'll be with them till you're gone. If you don't get along with them, you'll just have to figure that out on you own. Light's go out at nine thirty, wake up at six thirty, breakfast at seven, classes from seven thirty to eleven, lunch at eleven fifteen, free time from eleven forty five till one, house care and yard work from one till five thirty, dinner at five forty five, study time from six thirty till eight forty five, free time till lights out. This schedule doesn't change at all; I don't care if it's your birthday or a holiday, the clock doesn't stop running and that clock will be running your life. Don't try running away, because you don't like it here. Someone will catch you and you'll be punished severely. If you have any questions ask them, I'm not in the mood to answer them" Mr. Dick finished and stomped back down the hall yelling at the door of another room for the people inside to shut up.

"Is he ever in the mood to answer questions?" asked Alex dropping his suitcase on the only unused bed.

"Nope," said one of the twins and then started giggling. "You know what? When he hurts him self and sucks on it guess what he's doing."

"Gross! You little nasty freak" said the boy farthest from the door throwing a pillow at him.

"Sorry for that" said the red head, approaching Alex and shaking his hand. "I'm Danny, the one furthest away is Nick, the twins are Brandon and Jacob, that's Conrad next to Nick, and Kevin, is across from him." A chorus of hellos greeted Alex as his new room mates took the time to look him over. "Just a warning one the older boys is Henry Willison, he tries to make everyone who is younger than him life hell. He'll pick on you for awhile since you new and I would try steering clear of him for awhile."

"Yeah, just because he couldn't tell Jacob and I apart look what he did" said Brandon showing a livid black eye and deep red scratch marks down his cheek.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Alex said smothering a yawn produced from the long, stressful day.

"Uh, uh, uh. No sleeping until you tell us your story," said Nick brushing a piece of mahogany hair away from his azure eyes. The twins nodded freckled noses scrunching up as they giggled over a whispered joke, dirty blond hair mixing together as the leaned in and mumbled in each others ear.

"What do you mean? What story?" Alex said sitting down on the bed, covering another yawn as the bed springs groaned loudly.

"You know, why you're here" stated Danny sauntering over and picking up the picture frame Alex had placed on the foot, "Is this your mum and dad?" He asked looking at the photograph.

"No, that's my uncle and housekeeper."

"Ooh, a housekeeper, that's pretty posh" said Jacob walking over and grabbing the picture from Danny, "Who would have imagined that we would be blessed with someone who had a housekeeper? Just joking mate, Nick apparently had a nanny, even though I don't believe it."

"Do you have a picture of your mum and dad too; I would like to see them."

"Yeah, it's somewhere in there," Alex said gesturing at his suitcase. "It's pretty old and not very good. They got it on one of their first dates."

"So how did they d…um pass away?" Kevin said looking over he twins' shoulders to get a look at the picture.

"They were going on vacation and their plane wrecked."

"A plane wrecked, and at least as far as I remember, it didn't even mention it in the newspaper recently."

"It wouldn't have, it happened when I was a baby." Alex said taking the picture back and placed it on the end of the bed. "My uncle took care of me since then."

"Well what happened to him?" Conrad piped up.

"He was always gone on business trips, that's why I had a housekeeper. Last one he went on he…" Alex paused trying to decide if he should tell how Ian had actually died or the story he had been told. "He got shot."

"Whoa, he got shot? Why?" Jacob and Brandon said at the same time. In reply Alex shrugged, he knew that it was because of Ian's work, but he didn't know the specifics.

"Well what happened to your housekeeper?" said Kevin only to get smacked by Nick.

"Don't be an idiot, Kevin, she couldn't have been expected to keep taking care of him and not getting paid, because her employer was dead."

Alex grinned at that, "Actually she really wanted to do just that."

"Then why didn't she?"

"Her visa was expired and she got sent back to America."

"What was your uncle like?" Danny questioned.

"Well first of all he was never there, so I don't know if how he acted when he was at home was the same as everywhere else. He believed that hard work is the only way to get anywhere in life, so instead of getting allowance I just had a job at a restaurant washing dishes. He also was really stern a lot of the time, but he still took me on tons of different trips. He was really good at a lot of stuff and taught me about some, like kayaking, or skiing, and scuba diving. I always wondered why someone who worked at a bank would know all of that." A rap on the door startled all of the boys, causing them to jump slightly.

"Are you boys still awake? Because I was certain that you were supposed to be silent half an hour ago" said the squeaky voice of Mr. Dick. The teenagers all looked at each other before separating to their own beds. Alex dropped his suitcase on the floor and not bothering to change he slid under the rough blankets, quickly falling asleep to the sound of the other boys' rhythmic breathing.

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**A/n: So how did you like that chapter? Please, please, please tell me. Thanks again for reading this far. I'll seriously try writing soon.**

**Until then,**

**Alex**


	5. Chapter 4

**a/n: Hey I'm back, did you miss me? I know this took a long time and I am so sorry.**** I actually was going to get this up earlier but that didn't happen, first I had to go to extra days of school of being absent to often ******** (if I had missed one more day they were going to take all my credits away)I got out of school and *bam* the next day I get the swine flu (yeah that's right, I'm a survivor!) and it was totally horrible, then I had to go somewhere else and it was exhausting (I feel asleep between an industrial fridge ((those are the big ones)) and a dumpster and I only got like 20 minutes tops before I got dragged out), then I went and stayed somewhere else with no computer for a while and I totally got cut up(I jumped out of a tree on to a roof rolled down the other side and caught the gutter and sliced my hands up so badly and dropped to some concrete and that hurt, because I had to get over a fence and there was no other way and it was pretty intense.), and finally yesterday I went somewhere else and got an awful sunburn and hurt me shoulder(I came home and just sat down right next to the door because I got such a bad sunburn I couldn't even stand up and it was pretty funny because my sister saw me and she was like "Alex what happened?" And I showed her the sunburn on the back of my legs and it's bright red and covered in blisters and scabs and the like.) and I got tons of bug bites then to. **** I love it when I haven't added anything for awhile and someone tells me I should keep going, it helps so much. Thank you so much ObsessivelyOdd for getting me back on the band wagon. I also want to thank my TWO amazing betas xXxSmigdexXx and ****CraZyPshyChoLadY, I am so lucky to have you guys helping me. Also please review, please it inspires me so much. **

**Disclaimer:** **Ich besitze Alex Mitfahrer es alle nicht gehören Anthony Horowitz, die glückliche Ente.**

**Chapter 4**

The shrill sound of an alarm woke Alex from his dreamless sleep. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes to see the blond twins, already dressed, on either side of his bed. "Good morning, sleeping beauty"

"Shut up, Jacob." He groaned rolling over to look at his watch.

"How did you know? No one can ever tell us apart, especially after knowing us for one night." Said the other boy, looking awestruck.

"Lucky guess. Besides the black eye is a dead give away. " Alex said, sitting up shaking his head to clear the sleep fuzz from his brain. He slid off the bed onto the cold floor and quickly slid his feet into his sneakers, before pulling his suitcase over and grabbing a change of clothes, a blue Chelsea shirt with his favorite player's name (Michael Ballack) on it and a fresh pair of jeans.

"The showers are across the hall if you want to wash up before coming down to breakfast." Stated Kevin and Alex noticed for the first time a faint accent in his voice.

"You're French?" He asked the dark haired boy, who nodded and then looked back down at the book he was reading. He glanced back up, "If you don't know where the dinning hall is I'll wait for you and show you when you are done with your shower."

Alex gave a small smile, "Thanks, I really have no idea where anything is here and could use some help today…learning my way around."

"No problem." Kevin said returning once more to his book.

"He's a real book worm." Brandon smirked lazily.

"But not as much as Conrad, I swear that kid never has his nose out of a book." Jacob added looking at the other boy who was reading.

Nick nodded

"Kevin is just brilliant. He's in none of our classes, because he's to smart. He's probably the next Bill Gates or something like that. Or maybe he'll turn out to be the Prime minister. Trust me; never ask him anything about politics. He'll tell you more then you will ever want to know. "

Alex chuckled as he opened the door into the hall.

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The boy in the room looked up as the door opened. "Sorry about that, mate." Nick stood up and put the book on the bedside table. "If you want a hot shower, you'd best get up early and take it. It's what the twins, Danny and I do, everyone else in here just waits until free time, of course then they get cold showers and have to wait in a long line."

"I'll remember that." Alex shivered, as he used a towel to rub the some of the cold water out of his hair.

Nick squinted at the clock hanging on the other side of the room from him. "Dang it, come on we're going to be late for breakfast and Mr. Dick will be furious if your late on your first day here."

He hurried through the door, followed by the blond boy. They rushed down a flight of stairs and through several halls before arriving at a pair of grimy, gray double doors. "Come on, over here." Nick whispered as the slid through the doors and sat down with the other boys from their room at a long table.

A boy with short, dark hair sat down next to Nick, "Vous etes en retard; je jure que je ne vais pas vous inventer plus des excuses bientôt."

"Fait taire. En plus combien de fois est je en retard ?"

"Tout le temps et vous le savez."

"Parfait, je suis en retard tout le temps. Rentrez maintenant avec votre roomies, je ne veux pas vous recevoir dans le problème de nouveau."

Alex smiled at the banter between the two boys and looked down at the table, not wanting to let them know he had listened to their conversation.

"Oh le droit, c'est le nouveau garçon Alex Rider. Alex this is my older brother, Beau."

"Pleased to meet you." Beau said his accent much more noticeable then his brother's, sticking out his hand for Alex to shake.

"Agréable de vous rencontrer aussi." Alex replied.

"Vous parlez le français?" Nick looked surprised when he asked Alex.

"Finalement, il n'y a personne d'autre ici qui peut."

Beau glanced over at the boys from his table who stood up to get inline for breakfast. "A fini aller, j'irai faire à bientôt."

Danny leaned across the table, "We only go to get our breakfast one room at a time, oldest to youngest. There are still about three more ahead of us."

They watched as other tables filed through the line until it was their turn. "Please don't be, please don't be, please don't be… Uggh it's stupid oatmeal again." Brandon groaned as they got into line.

They retuned to their table each with a bowl of colorless oatmeal as started to slowly eat it.

"So you all know what happened and why I am here, but I don't know about any of you." Alex said wrinkling as Jacob took a spoonful of oatmeal and turned the utensil up side down, only to have the oatmeal cling to the spoon in the exact shape it had been in.

"Well none of our stories are as exciting as yours. No plane crashes and no one getting shot." Conrad stated, glaring at the food in his bowl.

"Fine I'll start." Danny said. "When I was five my mum and I were going to the grocery store, I ran ahead and straight across a street. It was foggy and she started to cross the street after me and was hit by a lorry. My dad jumped off a bridge a year later. I've lived here ever sine then. They were both only children and my mum's parents were dead and my dad's mum was dead and his mum had Alzheimer's and lived in a nursing home, she died a year or two ago."

"That's awful."

"Mine isn't that bad," declared Nick, gray eyes somber. "My parents were rich, I'll get there money when I turn 18, they left me with the nanny one day when I was ten, they were in an auto accident. I came here, since it was the closest."

"Why not a boarding school or something like that?"

Nick shrugged, "Don't know. Besides that would have used lots of the money from their bank account."

"What about you, Conrad?"

"My dad worked as a fisherman up in Dublin, that's where he met my mum. His ship was lost in a storm a little over five years ago, eight months later my mum died giving birth to my little sister. Catheleen, my little sister, was adopted last month."

"I bet you miss her."

"So much, but she sends me lot's of little letters, so it seems like she is closer."

"When Beau was seven and I was five," Kevin said quietly, "Out mother had a stroke while were trying to find a home near by, we had just moved up from France. Our Father vanished with a ballet dancer when I was four and we haven't heard from him since. Beau's been really protective of me ever since. He had made mother mad and she was yelling at him when she had the stroke, he's always blamed himself for it."

Alex glanced over at the older boy who was laughing with his friends. "I'm sorry."

"At least we have each other."

"Why are you two here?" Alex asked the identical boys.

"Mr. Dick found us on the door step when we were a month old." Brandon began

"We have no idea who are parents are."

"We've just always been here."

"No one wants to adopt two boys and we would never be separated-"

"So we were never adopted."

A loud bell cut through their conversation. The noise level in the room swelled as everyone departed to their separate classes.

"Mr. Rider, Mr. Girard. I happened to notice you were both late this morning." Mr. Dick's squeaky voice said, and the two boys whirled around to face the man.

"Sorry, sir." Kevin murmured.

"Do you have a legitimate excuse?"

Kevin bit his lip, "Well…"

"It was my fault, sir." Beau appeared, standing next to his younger brother.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, sir, I told Kevin he should show the new boy around before they came down to breakfast. I know they would have been on time if they hadn't."

"I thought I could expect better of you, Mr. Girard, you know not to listen to your brother. You know what a trouble maker he is."

"Yes, sir. I do know."

"And you," He said glaring at Alex who ducked to hide a grin cause by the way the brothers nonchalantly lied to the directors face. "This is no way to make a good first impression. The three of you can work in the kitchen for the next week to help teach you not to be late."

Beau groaned at this, but feel silent when Mr. Dick scowled at him, "Would you rather it was two weeks."

"No, sir."

"Now hurry along to class, before you are tardy for those as well." Mr. Dick turned sharply on his heel and marched through the door.

"Uggh, I already have kitchen duty for a week." Beau complained glowering at his younger sibling. "And it's your entire fault."

Kevin grinned sheepishly, "Sorry." Beau simply smacked him on the top of the head and stalked through the doors.

"Best get to our classes as well," Kevin sighed. "The history teacher, Mrs. Blart, is angry all the time, and she'll be livid if we're late. Admittedly it is fairly funny to see; her face turns this hideous shade of crimson, and her eyes get all bulgy, and her voice drops about an octave. But she gives the worst punishment duties ever. "

"Sounds lovely."

"Well come on then." Kevin opened the door to the dinning room and walked into the hall followed by Alex.

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Translation

"You're late; I swear I'm not going to make up any more excuses for you soon."

"Shut up. Besides how often am I late?"

"All the time and you know it."

"Fine, I'm late all the time. Now get back with your roomies, I don't want to get you in trouble again."

"Oh right, this is the new boy Alex Rider."

"Nice to meet you to."

"You speak French?"

"Finally, there is no one else here who can."

"Got to go, I'll see you later."

**a/n: I know it's not the best, but it is better then nothing right. I love Michael Ballack and that's why I had to use his name somewhere, he's played for 2 of my top five favorite soccer teams. Please, please review and I'll try getting the next chapter up as soon as possible. **

**-Alex**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Don't kill me, please. I know its been a long time but I've been busy and life has been insane. I could tell you all some cool stories about why I haven't but I won't unless you want me to. The only thing I have to say is that while I was reading Crocodile Tears I was going to party and it was snowy and up this scary road. Then the party was insane; being one of the four under 21 I hung out in a closet (it was a b.a. closet, it had T.V., a fireplace, and a mini-fridge) and we chased each other all over the building (it was a castle so there was lots of room to run around) and I found a secret passageway behind a book shelf! How cool is that? Anyways please review.**

**Thanks to my betas and all my patient readers. Just so you know Crawley makes me mad in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own.**

**Chapter 5**

-------

"Rider." A large hand grabbed the shoulder of a blond boy helping pull carrots from a large vegetable garden. The teen sat back on his heels and clapped his hands to make the thick, damp dirt that was clinging to his hands to full to the moist garden. "What do you want?" Alex glared at the boy who held his shoulder.

"What do I want? Why does that matter? Don't you know by now that what I want I get?" The older boy tightened his grip. Two other boys working in the garden looked worriedly at the confrontation. Henry Willison glanced at the building behind them, "Mr. Dick told me there's someone here to see you. If their posh car was anything to go by, I would say it was some sort of government official. What did you do? Are they here to get rid of you? You'd better thank your lucky stars that they want you in there right now, or else I'd have try to knock into you that you ought to show me some more respect."

"Yeah you'd try." Alex stood jerking his arm out of the hold and brushed past the other boy.

"What are you looking at?" Henry snapped at the twins who continued to stare at him, they immediately muttered a reply and turned their gazes back on the plants in the garden.

Alex slowly opened the side door; small flakes of peeling sky blue paint chipped off and coated his hands as the rusting hinges protested. This door had always caused Alex to smile when he saw it. At some point in time some one had taken the time to try and cheer up the orphanage and painted bright cheerful colors through out it, these colors had all been covered with neutral colors, but somehow this door had never been repainted. Alex wondered if it was simply because they ran out of paint or someone agreed with the original painter and insisted on keeping some color in the dull building.

"Good there you are." Mr. Dick seemed to have been waiting for the boy, because Alex had scarcely opened the door when he started talking to him. He paused to inspect the boy. "Look at yourself; you're filthy." The boy bit back replying that he had been working in a garden of course he was dirty. "Go clean yourself up and hurry. I want you back in here within five minutes." He looked at his watch pointedly.

"Yes, Sir." Alex turned and hurried up the narrow staircase at the side of the room. Once upstairs he grabbed a fresh shirt from his room before entering the bathroom. He spared a glance at the mirror and wrinkled his nose at the unruly appearance. He twisted one of the taps at the sink as he yanked the green shirt over his head and let it fall to the floor behind him in a messy heap. He splashed the cold water against his flushed face to rinse the grime off. With a quick hand he grabbed the discarded shirt from the floor and exited the bathroom; pulling the bright yellow shirt that displayed the Brazilian flag and the symbol of FIFA World Cup 2006 symbol on as he tossed his other shirt onto his bed. As he stepped back down the steps he ran a hand through his hair using it as a makeshift comb.

"4:03. Not bad." Mr. Dick looked at the boy, "Someone from the government is here to see you. You'd better be on your best behavior. He insisted that he speak to you privately." Alex barely paid attention to the man as he followed him through the halls until they reached the door to small office. "Remember, your best behavior." Mr. Dick hissed and Alex absentmindedly nodded as the door was opened.

"Thank you." A man moved from behind the desk where he had placed himself and nodded to the other man and waited for him to close the door before continuing. He walked to the door and made sure it was firmly shut. "Alex, I don't know if you remember me I'm-"

"Mr. Crawley. If you are here to see if anything is different my answer is still no." Alex crossed his arms.

The man returned to his seat behind the seat at the desk and gestured to the chair across from him, when Alex stubbornly stood where he was he ran a hand over his face and Alex caught the glint of a wedding ring on his hand. "How have you been? You look like you've lost weight."

Alex shrugged, "I'm doing wonderful. In the last month not only has my uncle died, the one person who cared about me in the world was deported, I was pulled from my school and all my friends, sent to an orphanage, but a pesky governmental group has forgotten the meaning of the word no."

"I didn't mean about that. How are you doing here?" He picked up a piece of paper that he had arranged so its edges perfectly lined up with the edges of the desk. "Two fights already, low grades in all of your classes, office referrals. Alex, its evident you aren't happy here, we could solve all of that for you." Alex meet Mr. Crawley's steady gaze and stared at the man stonily. "We could find somewhere where you would be happy and send you back to school at Brooklands. We might even be able to bring that housekeeper of yours back. What was her name?"

"Jack." Alex grudgingly offered her name.

"Just sit down and we could talk about this rationally."

Alex pulled a chair away from the desk and sank into it, but continued to hold his silence. After several minutes of this the man sighed. "Alex, think about your future. What are you going to be able to do with it now? If you keep up this performance in school it will be nearly impossible for you to find a university that will accept you."

"Well you should have thought about that before you wanted me to be your pet spy. I was doing just fine before you decided that my life was something you could mess with. MI6 has to stick its nose in everything doesn't it?"

A small smile graced the man's face at this. "Well yes, that's what MI6 is for."

"Is this all you came here for? To lecture me on how poorly I am doing because you tried to force me to work for you?" Alex voice rose until he was nearly shouting. In response the adult opened a small, black briefcase and pulled out a newspaper that was neatly folded in half. "This might interest you." He held the paper out and after a moment's hesitation he reluctantly took it. His dark brown eyes scanned the headline before looking at the man.

"This is from three weeks ago. I already saw it." He dropped it onto the desk the bold words facing the ceiling. "Yeah those computers were recalled there was something wrong with them. I'm not big into computers; it doesn't interest me that much." Although he hated to admit it Alex's curiosity was piqued.

"Those computers were recalled because of MI6. They had a toxic strain of small pox in them which would have been released on activation. This is what you would have looked into if you had agreed to help us."

"So, you didn't need me at all. You still figured everything out on your own."

The man pulled out a glossy picture from the briefcase and slid it towards the boy. He tapped the man in the picture, "This is Agent Michael Burke. This is his son Andrew and his wife Julie. We sent him into to investigate Herod Sayle two weeks ago. He found out about the small pox strain and informed us. After that we lost contact with him." He pulled out another set of photos. "We found his body four days later." Alex picked up the pictures and paled when he looked at the imaged they captured. Vivid welts covered almost every visible inch of a pale body. "Those are from the tentacles of a man of war. From what we can tell he was held in a tank with a man of war."

"Why are you telling me this? Because you know this would have been me?"

"We believe that after the incident with your uncle they were more suspicious of their staff and adults in the vicinity. A teenager there to learn the same information wouldn't have aroused their suspicion as much."

"You can't blame this on me." Alex tore his eyes from the pictures to look into the others face, his eyes desperately begging him to reassure him.

"Of course not; we are simply telling you what happened." Mr. Crawley closed the briefcase with a snap and stood. When Alex moved to hand the news paper and pictures back to him he shook his head. "I have no more need for that." He looked at the smiling boy in his father's arms. "It's really a pity. Andrew is only one and just like you he is going to grow up with out his father."

Alex's shoulders slumped as he stared at the child. Mr. Crawley stepped over to him and placed a warm hand on his shoulder. The teen let it rest there for a moment soaking in the warmth of comforting human contact; abruptly he turned away from the man. "Just remember what we talked about." The man's voice softened for a minute. "Take care of yourself. This place can destroy everything good about you."

The boy continued sitting as he listened to the footsteps fade as they walked down the hall and out of hearing range. A shaky breath flew past his lips as he buried his face in his hands. No, the man's death wasn't his fault. It couldn't be. He had been miles away. He kept telling himself this. He wondered what they were going to tell the boy when he was older, maybe that his father had died in a car accident. He let out a bitter laugh as that thought flew through his tangled mind. But it was his fault. He had been the reason the man had been chosen for that assignment. Now there was one more widow and a little boy wondering where his father was. Those two would be haunted by that lose for years. And really who cared if a single orphaned teenager was killed. For several more minutes the teen sat motionless as he argues with himself about the man's death. Eventually he took a single deep steadying breath, and turned to exit the room.

As he left the room his mind was still reeling and he barely acknowledged the older teen outside. For Alex once again the world had deceived him by pretending to be kind and welcoming. First the news he received and then Henry Willison waiting outside the door shattered that notion.

**A/N: Sooooo, was it good? Please tell me!!!! So the door is a real door. I was at an orphanage for a little while this summer and they really had a door like that. I'll be back soonish. I've got lots of cool/weird/bad things that happened this summer I could tell you about but then my an would by extremely long. Maybe I'll tell you later. Love you all.**

**-Alex**


	7. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

Hello readers! I have had this story on HIATUS for the past chunk of time with the intention to some day and return to finish it. Life was simply too busy for much writing time and I thought I would one day have more time for it. I have recently accepted a job across the pond and at time in various other countries. Unfortunately for security reasons I'm unable to keep many accounts I have on various websites. While I will still most likely be around it will only be for the very occasional one shots. Consequently I will be unable to finish this story so I am officially putting this story up for adoption. If you wish to take it on please PM about it.

Thanks and Bon Voyage.

Alex


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